Author's Note: This is my first fanfic, so please tell me what you think. I will at least post a second chapter and if all goes well I'll make more. These first two chapters will be done in Kyo's point of view. He is remembering things, so it's like he's telling a story of his past.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fruits Basket or the characters in it. I do own the characters Kila Hasaru and her mother, but that's it. I own only a part of the plot. The rest belongs to Natsuki Takaya.
Enjoy!
Stitched Memories Part 1- I
I was about five years old when I met her... the little girl with the long red hair on the swing in the park. I think what captivated me most about her was that she was all alone, like me. Plus, she had a stuffed cat in her arms.
I should start at the beginning.
My mom really didn't like it when I went outside, she always wanted me near her for some reason or another and I accepted that. Why I wanted to go out that day, even I'm not aware of it, but thanks to my cousins Shigure, Hatori, and Ayame, my mom was kept busy. Ayame wanted her help with something and Hatori went along to make sure he wasn't an idiot. Shigure had to babysit me. I'm not sure why he let me go outside when I asked, but he did. He also let me go alone. I couldn't remember the last time I had been out of Sohma House, but I liked how everything was... different... free even.
Of course, when I got to my destination, the neighborhood park, I was immediately self-conscience. There were so many other children, some younger and some older and some were the same age as me. There were too many giggling girls though and I couldn't chance it if one of them accidentally "hugged" me. So I headed for the most deserted place at the park, the swings. From where I had been it appeared that no one was there, but as I got closer, I noticed a little girl sitting on one of the swings. A quizzical look passed on my face as I watched her kick back and forth, but not go anywhere. What a poor excuse for a person who liked to swing. But still, she looked little and maybe... I could talk to her. Maybe I could make a friend with this red haired girl. Yet I had to be crude.
I scoffed at her, "That's not how you swing."
I immediately took back those words as I saw the girl stop kicking. It wasn't very nice to say as a first impression, especially if it was said in that tone of voice. I knew better as well, I had been taught better... but it didn't mean that I had to. After what seemed like an eternity, the little girl turned her head around and looked at me with these large sea green eyes.
With a blank expression on her face, she replied quietly: "I know." And then a smile appeared.
We became instant friends, although I didn't want to admit it then. I spent the majority of that afternoon teaching her to swing and talking and playing in the sandbox.
"Oh! I almost forgot my kitty!" she gasped, leaning down and picking up a stuffed orange cat from the ground and dusting it off.
I stared at her blatantly, "Your kitty"
"Yeah!" a proud grin flashed on her face as she showed me her cat, "My mommy bought it for me earlier today. Cats are my favorite animals! I wanted a pet cat, but my mom's allergic to them so she bought me a stuffed one to make up for it! I call it Kitty"
"You like cats? Why?"
"Because."
"Because why?"
She gave me a puzzled expression, "Do I need a reason? They're cute! And... well... they're cats. I don't know why I like them, but I always have."
I remember blushing faintly, embaressed because of the way she talked about the cats. I doubt she noticed though, she was too fascinated with my hair color and the fact that I was talking to her. She was about an inch shorter than me, with long crimson red hair and bright green eyes. She clutched the cat close to her chest and beamed up at me.
"What's your name?" she asked me, as we built a castle in the sand, it was getting close to dusk.
I glanced up at her, "Kyo. Kyo Sohma. What's your name?"
"Kila Hasaru." she replied. "Kyo, I hope we can be friends. Will you be here tomorrow?"
"Huh?" I paused, not knowing what to say to this girl, Kila, who wanted to be my friend, "Uhh...maybe... I dunno. Why? Will you?"
"I'll try! But, right now I need to go. My mommy always tells me to be home before dark."
"She lets you come outside alone?"
"Well, my house is right across the street and my mommy trusts the neighbors to call her if they see anything." She stood up from her kneeling posistion and I followed suit, "Please come back tomorrow. I really wanna play with you again! Bye Kyo!"
And wouldn't you know that I was able to sneak back home without my mom knowing and then out again the next day. Over a period of a year, Kila and I grew quite close despite the age difference of one year and my family's curse and regulations. No one knew I was gone anyway. She was there for me when I needed her and I was there to protect her and guide her. I confided in her with everything but my family's curse. She told me of bully problems which I would solve by hitting them. She had been there for me when my mom wasn't and when Akito exposed my true form, even though she didn't know why I was crying... she consoled me. And she always carried, dragged, or clutched that stupid orange stuffed cat. It got ripped once, but luckily for her my mom had taught me to sew and I stitched it up for her.
When I was seven and she was six, we went to the park with our classes for a picnic. It was a cloudy day and Kila was aware that rainy weather made me sick. She didn't know why exactly, but she was always concerned with me on days like that. By this time, she had become quite clingy to me, but never invaded my privacy to hug me. She would simply hold my hand or cling to my arm, that was how she showed her affection for you.
"KyoKyo"
"What?" I spat out, bitter because of the weather.
She smiled faintly at me and took my hand, "Are you sure you're well enough to come today?"
"Yeah..." I assured her everything was fine, but she didn't buy it for a second. I quess that was one of the qualities I liked about her, she always saw when something was wrong and always tried to help. "I'm fine, I'll get better when the sky clears up."
When the picnic was over, we stayed at the park since it was right by Kila's house and I could walk home from where I was. We played a game of tag with some other kids on a jungle gym set when it started to rain. I grew so sleepy, but I didn't want to get caught, so I crawled into a little tunnel and fell asleep quite quickly.
It was dark when I awoke and it was really hard to move around. At first I had forgotten where I was, but then it quickly came to me that I was at the park. I listened for any sign of rain, but none came to me. Breathing a sigh of relief, I attempted to crawl out of the tunnel. I fell down and then I realized that I had tripped on my clothes that had become baggy. Lifting my hand, or what I had thought to be my hand, I gasped to see an orange cat paw in it's place. I began fretting, 'How did I transform? Did I become too weak? Did someone hug me? What will my mom think! Am I gonna get punished by Akito? What about-' my long train of thoughts ceased when I discovered the culprit of my transformation leaning against me. She was sleeping, but then stirred. Her eyelids opened to reveal twin green optics gazing back at me. In her arms she clutched a stuffed orange cat.
"Hello KyoKyo." she smiled.
"Kila!" I almost shouted, but left it at a hoarse gasp, "How did-? Why-? Uggh..."
"Kyo? Why did you turn into a cat?" my friend's face creased with worry, "did I do something wrong? Is it because you're sick? I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"
I shook my head, calming down a bit, "No... it's not because I'm sick. I think you'd better close your eyes for a second, though..."
"Why?" she asked, but closed her eyes just the same.
With a poof I changed back to my orange-haired self and slipped on my clothes and then began on the long journey of telling her about my family's curse. About the Chinese Zodiac and me... the cat... an outcast of the family. She listened patiently, as I continued on about the rat and the cat and everyone else in my family that happened to be cursed.
"...So that's it..." I concluded, feeling a little uneasy.
She gazed at me with eyes full of confusion and worry, "Kyo... I'm sorry." I looked up at her. "I'm sorry that you're cursed like this... I wish I could do something to help you. But now I understand why you never wanted me to get to close to you. But... I'm not disgusted by you or anything. I mean, you're the cat! I love cats, you know that. And you're cat form was so cute! but I don't think you wanna be called cute, so forget I said that. Anyway, I'm not glad that you're cursed... but I'm glad that since you are... you're the cat. Please don't feel ashamed of being left out in your family, because you'll always have a place with me... you'll never be left out with me."
I'll never forget those words, they meant so much to me that I had been accepted by someone other than my family like my mom or Kagura. But still... my friend... my best friend... now knew the Sohma family secret. If she told anyone or if anyone found out I told, her memory would be erased by Hatori. I had seen it happen to all of Yuki's friends, now it could happen to me... to my friend.
"No, I'm sorry, Kila." I murmured, "You... you might have to get your memories erased now. A-and... we won't be able to be friends anymore... I'm sorry... but you can't tell anyone! Promise?"
She smiled her small understanding smile, "I promise, Kyo. I won't tell a soul."
She didn't tell a soul. I was never more proud to have her as my friend, a friend that could accept you and keep your secrets. And keep her own secrets. See, Kila lived with her mother alone. Her father ran out on them when she was only a baby. Her mother was really protective of Kila and didn't like me all that much, not that I went over often. It was hard for her to accept that her only child, her little baby girl, would rather go outside and play with me than stay inside with her. Unknown to my knowledge, Kila's mother beganhiding herpain byhating her daughter. She felt as if she was abandoning her. No matter how many times Kila told her mother "I love you." not once did her mother return the love, only hate. I wasn't aware of this until the night my own mother died, the night Kila saw my true form... the one I kept hidden from her by wearing the beads.
A year after she discovered my curse, I was in the courtyard of the Sohma Estate trying to avoid any contact with Kagura or Yuki, my cousins. Kagura was insane and tried to prove her love to me by trying to kill me, and Yuki was the rat of the zodiac and I had grown up hating him for leaving me out of the zodiac. So, I was hiding when a sobbing Kila ran up to the front gate of the Estate dragging a diheveled stuffed cat behind her. It was late, around 6 o'clock or so, so I was immediately concerned. There was a red mark on her cheek and the first thought that came to my mind was that someone had hurt her. She was too shaken up to tell me exactly what had happened, so I took her to my house so she could calm down. Of course... neither of us were prepared to see the sight that was awaiting us.
Thick, crimson liquid seeped into the cream colored carpet forever staining it. The source of the liquid was at my mother's stiff paling body. Her empty, lifeless eyes pireced into me. Deep slits in her wrists. I was momentarily stunned, in shock. My mom. My mom who looked out for me and checked my beads everyday and hated it when I went outside and always said she loved me. Now... here she was on the floor... dead...
Trees whipped past me as I fled, unshed tears blurring my vision. I don't know how long I was running or where, but I had to get away. I had to get away from the corpse of my mother. Undistinguishable voices sounded in my head 'It's all your fault. It's all your fault!' "It's not my fault!" I shouted as I came to a hault, "It's not my fault!" I fell to the ground in a heap of sobs, I never cried like this... Hell... I didn't cry period unless I was really upset over something.
"K... Kyo?" I heard a small voice from behind me. I looked up, but not in her direction... I couldn't let her see me crying. I began wiping away the tears and I realized I was by a ditch. Well, a deep ditch with water streaming through it. It looked like a pretty far fall. I then realized it was raining.
"Kyo?" she was crying, not the scared sobs from earlier... but sorrowful tears for me. She came around to face me so that her back was to the ditch. The ground was soft. She was really close to the edge. The cat was still in her arms. Her weight, small weight that it was, caused the ground to give way. Like a landslide.
It was all in slow motion. Kila fell backwards, falling towards the river. I reached out to her, with the hand that housed my beads. She grabbed for my wrist, but took hold of my beads in panic. I watched them come off me. Then her other hand grasped my wrist. There she was hanging over the edge of the river holding on to me with one hand and held my beads in the other. For a brief moment, I hated her. But the hatred vanished when I saw the confusion and worry in her gaze.
"Don't look at me!" I growled angrily, trying to shake her away, causing her to shriek. I transformed into a hideous beast. A monster. I couldn't protect Kila from myself. She saw the true me...
A/N: So... what do you think? Reviews are greatly appreciated! Flames are accepted too, but please don't hate me. Chapter 2 is coming up next! Thank you for reading!
